Scoot: Reality News Beats Fiction!

by Scoot,posted Jul 11 2012 10:07PM

7.11.2 - What’s one of the most memorable TV moments to you? A newly released survey shows that the #1 most memorable TV moment was the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The #2 most memorable event--coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Rounding out the top 5: #3 the O.J. Simpson verdict, #4 the Challenger exploding and #5 the Death of Osama bin Laden.

What interests me most about the top 20 most memorable TV moments is that they are all coverage of actual events. TV fiction, like the final episode of “M.A.S.H.,” “Who Shot J.R.,” the final episode of “Friends” did not make the top 20 list.

Throughout my career I have paid attention to the media and its relationship with society (the audience) and I’ve often discussed the concept that “real” events, though less graphic than the violence or drama we see from Hollywood, always have a greater impact on us. And isn’t that an indication that we, the audience, have not been desensitized by graphic Hollywood violence?